Early on Thursday, an ESPN report detailed Dan Snyder’s general awfulness as the owner of the Washington Commanders. One of the major revelations was how Snyder apparently has “dirt” on Dallas Cowboys Jerry Jones and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Snyder even called the NFL a “mafia,” to which an anonymous owner said all the other owners “hate” him.
This was important context to interesting comments from Thursday Night Football play-by-play commentator Al Michaels during the broadcast of Bears-Commanders. As the two teams started the fourth quarter, Michaels went on a short tangent about how the rest of the league thinks Snyder should sell the Commanders.
Given that Michaels said these things as the camera specifically panned over to Snyder on national television and that Michaels himself might be the “golden voice” of the league — this is not a small development, to be sure:
Al Michaels discusses the ongoing issues with Dan Snyder, saying "Just my feeling, I think what the league would love is for Snyder to sell the team. Not have to go to a vote but just sell the team. Because it's become a major problem around the league, obviously." pic.twitter.com/sBA5WrGChI
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 14, 2022
Oh, man. You can count on one hand the number of times a play-by-play broadcaster says an owner should sell a team during a game in front of a massive audience. And by “one hand,” while I can’t confirm for sure, that number is probably more like zero.
With Snyder apparently increasing the heat on key league officials, this is certainly a situation to watch if Michaels is spotlighting it on TV.
NFL fans had lots of thoughts and theories about Michaels calling Snyder out on live TV
Al Michaels saying on a national game broadcast that he thinks the league wants Dan Snyder to sell the Commanders is worth paying attention to.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 14, 2022
Dan Snyder looking up dirt on Al Michaels after that like pic.twitter.com/204fissrPN
— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) October 14, 2022
Al Michaels is wired in at the top of NFL food chain. For him to say “the league would like for Dan Snyder to sell” is delivering a message from somebody 🤔
— Randy Mueller (@RandyMueller_) October 14, 2022
Surprised to hear Al Michaels bring up today's ESPN story on Dan Snyder after Michael Smith's pregame report seemed to satisfy that "obligation", but it was interesting to hear Michaels' thoughts
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) October 14, 2022
Wow Al Michaels just said “please sell the team” when the camera was on Dan Snyder
— Michael Marzzacco (@Marswaggo) October 14, 2022
Al Michaels essentially calling on Dan Snyder to sell the team, really is something.
— Matt Lombardo (@MattLombardoNFL) October 14, 2022
I'm honestly stunned that the Prime Video and Al Michaels are actually discussing the Dan Snyder story
— Gabriel Schray (@schrayguy) October 14, 2022
Al Michaels saying on an NFL broadcast that the league wants Dan Snyder to sell the team is a BIG deal. It’s like the football version of Walter Cronkite calling for American negotiation in Vietnam.
— Jared Stillman (@JaredStillman) October 14, 2022
